The Ministry of Agitation and Propaganda
With guest Matti Friedman
This week we are joined by author and journalist Matti Friedman, who recently penned "Who by Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai" (you can hear him discuss it with Bari Weiss here) and before that the incredible "Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel" about the founding of the Mossad and the nation.
A former AP correspondent, Matti blew the lid on what the media gets wrong about Israel, in this badass essay in The Atlantic and in Tablet (here’s a little taste)
We cover a lot of ground in this one, and manage to make it all the way to the end without talking about current Israeli politics, but then discuss Matti's impactful and insightful letter to American Jews (with OG's Yossi Klein Halevy and Daniel Gordis) on why they need to raise their voice against Israel's current government.
Also:
From Toronto to Jerusalem
The myth of the Kibbutz
If someone offers to introduce you to an old spy - you say yes!
There are no delis in israel
This ain’t Norway
Why the media is so obsessed with Israel (maybe because there are more staffers covering Israel than all of China and Africa?)
Save us Bruno Mars
Herzl the Hipster
From artist Amit Shimoni Media literacy
Where does Matti get his information? (in books, like some nerd)News is activism
We want to believe...The NY times
Can we afford to criticize Israel publicly?
Let’s end on a pessimistic note
J/k we’re never letting him go
The orthodox scene in israel is thriving...and it’s terrifying (to some of us)
We want to be socialists, as long as everyone else is a libertarian
Draft the orthodox to the army? Yael puts chaya Leah on the spot
Matti's Hotmail
We want to give Matti an out but then we remember Indian Jews
Questions? Email askajewpod@gmail.com
Or comment below!
OMG. I read the Aleppo Codex which led me to read Spies of No Country, which was deeply unnerving because he mentions meeting someone at a mall in a city right outside Tel Aviv. Based on the description, and the fact that the guy was originally from Iraq, I was.pretty sure this was the mall in the corner of Jabotinsky and Bialik in Ramat Gan. There are old people who gather at the McDonald's there every day who schmooze (ha) in Arabic. My mom would take us there to hang out because my grandmother decided to opt out of air conditioning and we spent most of August in Israel with my mom's family. Anyhoo. When I was a kid I would just hear Yiddish accented Hebrew at home and then my aunt would take me shopping and I would hear Hebrew with a strange accent. My aunt told me it was Arabic.
Also. My grandparents almost lived in Bat Yam but my grandmother hates it there so they moved to Ramat Gan.
Also I didn't realize so few people went to a kibbutz. My grandmother's only relatives who survived the war were cousins who made aliyah in the 1930s and all went to 1 kibbutz. Each had 1 child, only 1 of whom stayed in the kibbutz. He had two kids, only one who is still on the kibbutz.
Oh. My dad went to Israel to live on a kibbutz when he was in college. I don't know why that stopped. Probably a result 9f the 6 Day War, when Israel stopped being a liberal darling.
Great conversation - do bring Motti back!
I spent a few summers back in the early 1980s at a religious kibbutz - Alumim (located near the Gaza strip, ooffff) - working in the vineyards, chicken houses and even the machinery workshop (not the usual tasks permitted for their female visitors) - learning some hands on skills while i studied to be an agricultural engineer at a university in the UK. We don’t hear much about kibbutzim anymore, a shame.